Spike Eskin: The Sixers Best Move In Free Agency

OAKLAND, CA -APRIL 7: Al Jefferson #25 of the Utah Jazz during a game against the Golden State Warriors on April 7, 2013 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Steve Yeater/NBAE via Getty Images)

By Spike Eskin

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – I’ve spent several weeks not writing about the Sixers. This is for a few reasons: my own sanity, people don’t really care that much anymore, I’m sick of writing and saying the name “Andrew Bynum”, and last and most importantly, there hasn’t been much left to say.

Now that we’re sure the Sixers won’t make the playoffs, and people have started to officially look to the offseason, the talk of which free agents the team might target has become a popular topic.

All of these players to some degree have nice attributes that may help a winning team, but these players will bury the Sixers in the same land of the mediocre that they’ve spent the last decade.

The Sixers will finish with somewhere between 31 and 35 wins this year. Ask yourself, do any of those players get the Sixers above 50 wins? Forget competing with Miami, do any of those players put the Sixers on that next tier of teams with Memphis, Denver, Chicago, Indiana, et al? In case you’re struggling with the answer, it’s “no.”

Four years and $48 million for a seven seed and a low ceiling. No thanks.

If Sixers ownership is worried about an empty venue for a losing team, they should remind themselves that history has proven that a .500ish team with little upside will provide a fairly empty arena as well.

The only players the Sixers should be signing in free-agency are those players who are willing to sign one-year deals. This leaves the Sixers in position to do two things: first, stink. It allows them to stink and continue to draft in the lottery. Next, it allows the team to stay flexible if and when the right player is available in a trade or as a free agent.

Signing the wrong free agent because you happen to have cap space is a far bigger sin than not having it at all. Josh Smith, Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and the rest are the wrong free agents for this team, at this time.